Official Instagram Rich List 2023: Ronaldo reigns as he nears record 600m followers

The world’s leading Instagram scheduling tool has announced that Cristiano Ronaldo tops the 2023 Instagram Rich List as the highest-earning star for a third year in a row, earning more than $3m per post. The footballer is set to break Instagram records any day as he nears 600m followers on the social media platform.

HopperHQ.com’s annual Instagram Rich List has become a global marker of online influence and is based on internal and publicly available data. For 2023, the data reveals how much each user can charge for a single post on Instagram and YouTube, which can be well over $2m in some celebrity cases.

Rich List ‘King’ Ronaldo is followed by fellow football legend, Lionel Messi, who has pushed Kylie Jenner off second place, making $2.59m per post off the pitch. Selena Gomes proceeds in third place, nearly doubling (47% increase) her earnings over the last 12 months, despite an array of controversial news around the American singer earlier this year amidst a rumoured feud between her and Hailey Bieber.

The top 10 on the Instagram Rich List 2023 are:

(Celebrity, number of followers and estimated earnings per post)

Cristiano Ronaldo – 599m followers – $3,233,923 per post
Lionel Messi – 482m followers – $2,596,834 per post
Selena Gomez – 427m followers – $2,557,825 per post
Kylie Jenner – 398m followers – $2,385,757 per post
Dwayne Johnson – 388m followers – $2,325,862 per post
Ariana Grande – 378m followers – $2,263,171 per post
Kim Kardashian– 363m followers – $2,175,235 per post
Beyonce Knowles – 315m followers – $1,888,884 per post
Khloe Kardashian – 311m followers – $1,865,236 per post
Justin Bieber – 293m followers – $1,762,436 per post
To view the full Instagram Rich List 2023 and which names made it – along with the additional YouTube Shorts Rich Lists – visit: https://www.hopperhq.com/instagram-rich-list/

Gigi Hadid was found to be the celebrity to be losing the most money, with the model earning 32% less in 2023 than 2022, taking a $129,725 hit per post. The drop in earnings are revealed after the model was recently arrested over the possession of drugs whilst on holiday.

Analysis of the findings revealed that Ronaldo and Messi are just two in four of the celebrities who are not from the USA in the top 20 list, as the States is found to be home to the richest influencers, with the majority (58%) of the Rich List located in North America.

Over the past year, the Instagram Rich List top 10 earn on average 37% more on the platform per post, compared to 2022. Since the start of the list’s existence in 2017, the top 10 celebrities’ Instagram earnings have risen by 155% in total – from $9m in 2020 to $23m in 2023.

For the first time in the Rich List’s seven-year history, HopperHQ.com has released a YouTube Shorts Rich List, detailing how much stars on the platform earn. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr Beast ranks first place on the YouTube Shorts Rich List, with 168m subscribers and earning $1.8m per post. Three of the top five on the YouTube Shorts Rich List were found to be under the age of 10 years old, all making over $200k per post.

The top five on the YouTube Shorts Rich List are:

(Influencer, username, number of subscribers and estimated earnings per post)

Jimmy Donaldson (@MrBeast) – 174m subscribers – $1,872,000 per post
Eva Diana Kidisyuk (@KidsDianaShow) – 113m subscribers – $297,000 per post
Anastasia Sergeyevna Radzinskaya (@LikeNastyaofficial) – 106m subscribers – $268,200 per post
Luis Alvarado (@Fernanfloo) – 46.2m subscribers – $252,000 per post
Vladislav Vashketov and Nikita Vashketov (@VladandNiki) – 99.8m subscribers – $243,000 per post
Mike Bandar, co-founder of HopperHQ.com, said,

“Examining the Instagram Rich List each year, time after time I’m struck by the magnitude of money celebrities can command per post. It’s still shocking to me that the annual money made on the platform increases every year, with Ronaldo now nearing a staggering $3.23 million per post! Yet, what fascinates me more is the consistent players at the top. It’s apparent that the glitz and glamour of traditional celebrities still holds power over the new ‘influencer’ status. Ronaldo and Messi not only dominate the pitch, but also the digital sphere as it’s clear they personify the power of personal branding and the influence it holds over us ‘ordinary’ people.

“While it’s clear we’re not ready to give the same influence to fresh faces on Instagram, our first Shorts Rich List highlights the opposite, with the top earners significantly younger, showing that a new generation of influencers is rising on the video platform. Over the years we’ve looked at many social media platforms, however as ‘quick’ content is proving more popular following the success of TikTok, we have loved looking into stars on YouTube Shorts.

“As Cristiano Ronaldo nears breaking another record on Instagram with 600 million followers, I’ll be keeping an eye on the football legend as I’m sure we’ll only see him increasing his earnings on our favourite social media platform as 2023 continues.”